Frightmares
by callmeakumatized
Summary: Nino raised a hand to knock on the door. At the first knock the door moved. That's when they noticed the door was already ajar. The boys looked at each other again, nervous for only a minute before Nino rolled his eyes, shaking his head. This is a prank, was Nino's unspoken message... Is it though? Sure. ...At first.
1. Chapter 1

Dusk was approaching, faster and cooler than it had even the day before. A wind had picked up, a cooler temperature dragged from the north drifting down through Paris as if bringing the English holiday to France through the air as it had all those years ago in traditions. Despite the chill, there was a flurry of excitement in the air. Groups of people, young and old, bustled about, smiling. Adrien couldn't contain his own excitement, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he and Nino walked from his house to the Dupain-Cheng bakery.

He had never seen so many people wearing black eye masks and "Chat" ears.

While France hadn't been prone to celebrate the commercialized holiday in general, Hallowe'en had become more popular in its own right since the arrival of the superhero set three years before. Everyone was looking for any excuse to dress up as Ladybug or Chat Noir. Hallowe'en provided a way for those of all ages to take part in the cosplay.

"Dude," Nino shot out, smacking his friend lightly in the arm. Adrien turned to Nino briefly, a smile still stuck on his face. "What are you so darn _giddy_ about?"

" _Giddy_?" Adrien scoffed. " _Really_?"

Nino ignored the jab at word choice.

"Are you _that_ excited about going out for Hallowe'en for the first time, or is it the fact that you get to go out for Hallowe'en for the first time with _Marinette_?"

Adrien was nearly a grown man. He should _not_ be blushing.

"Both?" Adrien replied sheepishly after a moment of thought, a smile still on his face.

"Bro," Nino shook his head while pulling out his phone, "you two need to _hook up_. I don't know how much more of…" – Nino gestured the hand currently not attached to his phone to all of Adrien – " _this_ I can handle."

Adrien punched him in the arm.

"Uh, _ow!?_ " Nino punched him back as Adrien laughed. Nino rubbed his own arm as if trying to get the sting to go away, the turtle-shell charm on his wrist bouncing slightly as he did so. Everything darkened around them as they walked into the shadow of a tall building. They had arrived at the Dupain-Cheng's.

They had arrived at Ladybug's house.

Adrien tried really, _really_ hard not to drag a hand through his hair. Again. Instead he paced slightly as Nino fiddled with the door to the apartment section of the complex, trying to turn and push the old knob. Unfortunately for the boys, tonight they would be bypassing the oh-so-enticing scents and sights of the main bakery in the attempt for haste. Hopefully their forbearance would be rewarded later on. First things first, though: the ladies.

Both boys were silent as they climbed the stairs to the door of the main house, each lost in their own rushing of mental preparedness. Nino adjusted his hat and headphones. Adrien succumbed to subconscious desires and ran both hands through his hair.

With only a glance at each other, the ghost smiles on their nervous faces (three years and still like this? _Really?_ ), Nino raised a hand to knock on the door. At the first knock the door moved.

That's when they noticed the door was already ajar.

The boys looked at each other again, nervous for only a minute before Nino rolled his eyes, shaking his head. _This is a prank_ , was Nino's unspoken message. While Nino looked annoyed, Adrien buzzed in excitement. The closest thing he had ever had to being scared like this was watching movies. He was thrilled to experience the real thing.

"Mari?" Adrien called into the door before starting to open it slightly. "Alya?" When no one answered (cliché), Adrien pushed the door open more, the hinges creaking as if set up to do so.

The house was dark, the last lights of day flickering out behind the shaded windows.

"Nah, man," Nino said as he shut the door. "This bro ain't playin' this game." He turned around and hit the light switch.

Nothing happened. He tried again, and again, hitting the few switches that rested on the edge of the door, but still nothing. They looked at each other before really turning and looking around at the house.

There was no power anywhere, no lights on, no clock on the microwave, no sound anywhere. And even in the dark, it looked like things were a little…disheveled. Dinner seemed abandoned, plates and silverware abandoned haphazardly a glass slowly dripping its contents into a large puddle of milk on the ground. A chair laid upended. The couch was askew. A curtain seemed to be ripped on one corner. A sick feeling entered Adrien's stomach, and when he looked to Nino, he could tell his friend felt the same way.

They jumped slightly when they heard giggling. Nino shook his head again, an exasperated look in his eyes. Adrien's grin tried to resurface.

The two guys edged slowly farther into the house. Another step in and they saw the flickering of light. It seemed like someone was upstairs, and, by the look of the light, were using candles to illuminate the dark space. Sighs escaped the two despite themselves and they made their way up the first few stairs.

"Hey, guys!" a shrill voice sounded behind them.

Both guys grabbed onto each other, gasping, collapsing slightly on the stairs. Adrien immediately started laughing when he saw it was Marinette. Nino shoved Adrien off of him, a _"Why is this my life?"_ expression on his face.

Though her body was angled toward them, Marinette was looking to the side, at the front door. She did not even attempt eye-contact, though she was clearly speaking to them. The candle in her hand caused shadows to dance across every recess etched on her face. Her dark hair appeared inky black in the low light, matching the black shirt she had put on.

"Hey, Marinette!" Adrien said lightly, smiling at the sight of her. He was glad for the low light. It gave him a chance to blush as much as he wanted without anyone really noticing.

"Hi…Adrien!" Marinette said almost robotically, the eye they could see unnaturally wide and unblinking. "Hello…Nino!" She stared to the side still, her overly-huge grin seeming more and more fake by the minute. She didn't move beyond talking, and something about it felt…off.

"Hey…Mari?" Nino answered questioningly. "Uh, yeah, so, where's Alya?"

"Who?" Marinette said, the cheery voice starting to cause an eerie feeling inside of Adrien. He felt his insides squirm again, the smile on his face starting to slip.

" _Alya_ ," Nino repeated. "C'mon, let's not play games right now, Marinette."

"Oh, right!" Marinette's laugh was somewhere between a girly giggle and a phantom's cackle. "Alya…she's, well, indisposed."

Nino rolled his eyes. Adrien looked shocked.

"Oh no! Is she alright?"

"Oh, she's much better now…" Marinette drawled out slowly. She still hadn't really made eye contact with them. Adrien reached out a hand tentatively to her arm. When he touched her arm, Marinette flicked the eye they could see suddenly to his own eyes. "I'm afraid, though, she won't be joining us..." She started to turn her head slowly. "But you'll be joining her soon."

The flickering light reflected off every feature on her face as she turned…off her skeletal face. The more she turned, the farther Adrien pulled away from her.

The entire other side of her face was a skull.

On the other half of her pink lips were wide white teeth, stretching into a sneering grin. Her eye was gone, nothing but an empty black hole where a bright sapphire should be shining. Instead of plump round cheeks, there was nothing but white bone, making her face looked stretched, skewed.

"I'm so glad you're here!" she said happily.

Then she blew out the light.

There were yells – screams? Was that them? - and scuffling as the boys scurried as fast as they could to the trap door. As soon as they turned though, they were face to face with a nightmarish scene. Adrien gasped at the white face also adorned with empty sockets, a candle floating beneath the wide, toothy grin.

The skeletal face screeched.

The boys truly did scream this time, and Adrien wasn't sure if he approved of his dad's decision to finally let him out of the house on this darned, cursed holiday. Suddenly limb over limb with Nino, he felt his own jarred form tumble over his friend's. He tried to find purchase with his hand on the staircase as they fell, but Nino's scrambling prevented success at every attempt. By the time they reached the bottom, Adrien could only lie there, sore, as Nino scrambled over his half-dead form, a foot coming directly into his stomach.

By the time Nino reached the door, the lights had flicked on.

And suddenly the room was filled to the brim with side-splitting laughter. But definitely _not_ from Adrien or Nino.

From above him, an only _slightly_ frightening face floated into view. Adrien blinked into the smiling face of Marinette. Half of her face was normal and the other half was skeletal…painted. The other half of her face was _painted._ As a skeleton. Adrien smirked to himself, closing his eyes tight in embarrassment before draping an arm over his eyes.

"THAT WAS NOT FUNNY!" Nino yelled from the door.

A thundering of footsteps and loud laughter told him the skeletal face that must have been Alya had come barreling down the stairs to see to her boyfriend.

"You're right, Nino!" Alya nearly yelled through her gasping guffaws. "It was _hilarious!_ HAHA your _face!_ Oh gall, I will never forget –"

The two by the door started to banter playfully (more huffily on Nino's end) back and forth, voices getting lower by the second. Adrien chanced a peek beneath his arm shield. When he saw Marinette still bent over his form, hands on her knees, grin on her face, he covered his eyes again. A sudden heat burned his cheeks, and he was _quite_ sure it was not entirely the fault of the embarrassing scare.

"Nice artwork, Mari," he spoke after clearing his throat. When there wasn't an answer, he pushed his arm up again to peek at her.

"Glad you enjoyed it," she returned playfully before winking her painted eye, remaking the empty-socket look. Adrien suppressed a groan before covering his face yet again. While he was quite resigned to lay there forever and become a permanent fixture on Marinette's floor, she seemed to have other plans. He yelped when a set of tiny but ridiculously strong hands latched onto his arm and pulled him up. "Come on, lazy bones."

Adrien tripped slightly as he came up, the force of her pull causing a bit too much momentum for the small space she had allowed between them. They would have been chest to chest except for Marinette still holding onto his arm.

"C'mon you two!" Alya called, somehow appearing at the trap door despite Adrien not even noticing her passing. "Quit making googly-eyes at each other! We got faces to paint and haunting to do!"

Marinette only grinned, not bothering to look at Alya, eyes still fixed on Adrien. Then Adrien felt a tug on his arm again as Marinette started to pull him up the stairs.

It wasn't nearly as strong as the tug on his heartstrings, he noted, and considerably less painful.

* * *

(( Thanks for reading! This will be a series, albeit a short one. So the chapters are named from classic scary movies, but the chapters themselves don't actually have anything to do with the movies. It's just for fun.

Aaaand I already have the next chapter written out. Let me know what you think! 8) ))

(( OH! I have artwork for this! It kinda got messed up (permanent marker mayhem), but it's on my tumblr. Search for "callmeakumatized" or "Maki Makes Magic". n.n;; ))


	2. Chapter 2

Nino was already planted in a seat by Marinette's vanity when Adrien and Marinette herself surfaced from below. The pink room had been decorated with candles everywhere. Little sketches of ghosts and black cats (Adrien smiled at this) dotted the walls, seeming to dance mischievously with every flicker of the light. A Jack Skellington sketch caught his eyes and he walked over to the wall where it was posted. Upon closer inspection, it _was_ Jack Skellington- _esque_ , but the figure grinning back at him was definitely _Chat Noir_.

When Adrien looked back to Marinette, she had already seated herself in front of Nino by the vanity. The three friends were going through several pictures on Marinette's phone, finalizing a design for Nino's face. Upon settling on one, Alya pulled Nino's hat around before pulling a rolling chair up to her boyfriend's side. She slipped off his headphones and pull them gingerly on her own ears as to not mess up her own expertly-applied face paint. Afterwards, Nino shifted slightly to accommodate the gesture when she reached into his front pocket to grab his phone. Nothing about the exchange was strange or awkward between them. Alya knew that Nino would have knew music, especially songs that she would like, on his ipod, and Nino expected her to search through it. Marinette and Adrien had seen the whole exchange so often it was not only expected, it was routine.

Adrien openly stared at the three of them, suddenly feeling rather out of place. Though Alya and Marinette had known each other for as long as he had known Nino, Nino had known Marinette longer than any of them. The three of them, collectively, were tighter friends than he felt he was. That was, until Marinette flashed her eyes over to him, and he remembered one very important detail.

Ladybug and Chat Noir had also been best of friends for three years. That sort of counted as something double with Marinette, right? And although they hadn't discovered their alter egos until just a few weeks before, their friendships hadn't necessarily suffered for it; things just became a little more awkward, the two stuck in some semblance of relationship limbo, both not sure if they were ready to fully tip from their tight friendship into something more…romantic.

A type of relationship _he so hoped_ they could have. Soon.

At this thought, he tore his eyes away from Marinette, who he had been staring absently at, and wondered if they would ever be comfortable enough in their civilian forms as Alya and Nino were. A vision of Marinette idly fiddling with his hair while he held her, watching a movie, flitted through his mind's eye. Simple, just like his coupled friends, and that's what he loved most about it.

"Nino, hold _still_ ," Marinette reprimanded through giggles as Nino shifted under the black-tipped brush. Marinette had already coated Nino forehead to chin in the white, greasy paint and had started on the skull details. Adrien smiled to himself when Nino rolled his eyes, Alya smacking him on the arm as she made a rotation in the spinning desk chair. Looking away again, a new sight had caught Adrien's eyes.

Upon their not-so-dramatic reveal, Chat Noir had discovered Marinette's crush on him as Adrien and had, of course, pestered her endlessly about it. Now, he knew from experience, that, especially in the last year or so, Ladybug could be as much of a tease as he could be. But what he saw now? This was being a bit excessive on all accounts. Adrien had felt eyes on him when he had entered Marinette's room…and now he saw that it was _his_ eyes, his own eyes, from at least 50 different posters, pictures, and magazine cut-outs throughout the years, plastered all over the corner of Marinette's wall. What made it even worse (better?) were the little hearts, x's, o's, and love notes posted on, around, and by each one.

He knew, really, that she was doing this on purpose, just to tease him…but something deep down told him that maybe not all of it was a joke…not unlike his own method of flirting.

As he searched around the notes, shaking his head, his eyes drifted to an older-looking, wrinkled paper. It was written in quite familiar handwriting and was pockmarked with scribbles and cross-outs everywhere.

 _Your hair is dark as night, your pretty bluebell eyes,_

 _I wonder who you are beneath that strong disguise…._

Adrien flushed. It was his poem. His poem for "Ladybug", the one that, he just now realized, Marinette, _"Ladybug",_ must actually _had_ answered. He stared for just a moment more before he noticed the sticky note attached to it. On it was a winky face with a short message:

 _Caught you looking. ;)_

Adrien whipped around. Sure enough, though Alya and Nino were checking out Nino's new face in the mirror, Marinette was looking straight _into_ Adrien. He froze under her gaze.

"Your turn, handsome," she smiled at him. Though the lights were low and flickering, he thought he saw a bit of a blush dusting her cheeks. The sight was definitely welcomed; goodness knows he looked the same.

Her words finally seemed to register in his mind, though, and he was confused.

"My…turn?"

"I'm going to paint your face, silly kitty."

Three years with his Miraculous, and Chat Noir was discovering new powers with it every day. Like how the more nervous he got, the more his bad luck seemed to emanate with him. Which would explain why, at that moment, the entire left side of Marinette's desk suddenly and unexplainably broke. Adrien rushed to catch all the books and things from sliding off, suddenly covered in sketchbooks, pens, fabric, and design magazines. The more he tried to right the whole mess, the worse it seemed to get; without warning, the other side snapped apart, and Adrien found himself covered in essence of Marinette, the majority of her projects now a scattered mess on the floor.

Adrien looked to a pursed-lipped Marinette and a wide-eyed skeletal couple.

"I did _not_ do that," was all he could offer before the room burst into laughter.

"Marinette! What is this mess down here?" Is everyone alright?" Sabine Cheng's voice filtered up through the trap door.

"Yes, Maman, we're fine!" Marinette yelled back through her laughter, standing up and stretching briefly. "I'll be down in a moment to clean up."

"See that you do!" Sabine's voice paused before she added, "I have all the leftover Hallowe'en treats from the bakery if you guys want anything – we just closed up!"

In a flash, Nino and Alya were gone. Marinette looked panicked for a moment before yelling after their friends:

"Don't you dare mess up my work!"

Adrien wondered at the exclamation. She must have been talking about the face paint, but why would they mess it up…? Oh.

Another burning in his cheeks told him he was blushing again, and he turned away from looking at the trapdoor where the couple had disappeared and back to the current mess he was covered in.

Marinette's small frame near him sighed before she righted herself and turned back to Adrien. She started laughing again.

"This is _not_ funny," Adrien retorted, trying not to let the smile win out on his own features.

"Oh, no of course not," Marinette replied, walking over to him to relieve him of some of his burden.

"It _isn't_. My bad luck just spreads all over the place."

"Hm, and you'd think I'd balance you out," Marinette smiled playfully. Adrien shook in his spot slightly.

"Maybe if you were everywhere I went, which I don't think is…possible…."

Adrien froze at the look in Marinette's eyes. She had paused while taking some of the magazine's out of his hands at his words. If her expression was anything to go off of, she was thinking the same thing he was feeling: _If only._

Marinette was the first to react. After another brief moment, she cleared her throat before taking her load from Adrien's arms and placing it on the ground. Adrien followed suit. Marinette stood and reached a hand out to help Adrien up. He stood, the two now awkwardly facing each other, and Adrien wondered again if they would ever be able to be comfortable with each other.

"Eh hem," Marinette said again, looking down for a moment at their still intertwined hands before letting go to tuck some hair behind her ear. "Well, uh, let's get started, yeah?"

Adrien looked at her, tilting his head questioningly. Marinette walked back to the vanity and sat on the stool she had occupied earlier and patter the chair across from her.

"Face paint. Now."

"Ah, I don't think Père would approve –"

"Don't play that game with me, _minou_ , you know I will tackle you if I have to."

"I'd like to see you try," he retorted with a wink.

She laughed. "I'm sure you would."

Gall, he really couldn't handle it when she flirted back like that. It just wasn't _nice_.

"Really, Marinette, I can't –"

"Adrien Agreste, sit your butt in this chair right _now_ or I promise you with my Miraculous stones I will beat you into submission."

Adrien sat, because, well, he feared for his life…but he also feared for his social life, and what his father really could take away from him.

"But –"

Marinette huffed, dropping the hand that was halfway to his face with the white make-up. "It's all acid-free, sensitive-skin make-up, not grease paint like we have. I got it from _your_ make-up artists."

Adrien blinked. "How did you…"

"I may not be as _famous_ as you, Adrien Famous-Male-Model Agreste," she smiled at him playfully, "but I did design the last two covers for Jagged Stone, as well as being named his personal stylist. I _am_ able to pull _some_ weight in the fashion world around here."

"You asked her as Ladybug didn't you."

"She wouldn't answer my calls as Marinette. Now hold still."

At the first touch of the make-up, Adrien closed his eyes, immediately mourning the loss of blue eyes and freckles.

"Don't you think that would lead to questions?" Adrien said in a soft voice, trying to keep as still as possible. Ironically, he should feel the _most_ comfortable out of the four of them sitting in this position. However, sitting so _close_ to someone you care about, who's indirectly massaging your face, and who smells absolutely delicious, was proving to be anything _but_ comfortable.

"Hm?" Marinette mumbled in reply.

Adrien tried not to smile. She was focused. Focused on _him_.

"I don't know, some Marinette chick calling up Adrien Agreste's make-up artist, and then Ladybug dropping in for the same information."

Marinette muttered out a laugh. "I'm very sneaky."

Adrien peeked an eye open.

"I'm not telling you my secrets, Adrien Agreste. At least not all of them, and not all in the same month."

"How many secrets do you have?"

A soft pressure on either side of his lips made Adrien jump slightly, but he tried to keep still as Marinette moved his face to get a better angle.

"Enough," she finally said. Adrien could hear the smile in her voice. She moved his face to the other side. "How many do you have, Chat Noir? At least one for each of your nine lives, I would assume."

Adrien grinned. "You know _all_ my secrets, M'Lady."

Fingers under his chin moved his face to face Marinette again. Another pressure on his lips told him she was on the last stage of the make-up. He opened his eyes to watch her face. Her eyes flicked up to his for a moment before she smiled softly.

" _All_ your secrets?"

Marinette, apparently having finished her handiwork, dropped her hands to her knees and faced Adrien head-on. From Marinette having pulled him toward her for the final touches on his face, his nose was maybe a foot away from her own. Adrien couldn't suppress the gulp that followed this realization. Suddenly the dim room felt a _whole_ lot warmer. And was that drumming in the distance or his own heartbeat pounding in his ears?

"All but one…" he trailed off. Somehow one of his hands was holding hers. Another hand reached up to grip her unpainted cheek. Marinette leaned into his touch, eyes closing for a moment before looking straight into him again. It was a very Ladybug-esque look: hyper-focused, determined, decided. The flickering lights played merrily in the recesses of the oceanic colors of her eyes, filling them with mischief and laughter.

One more inhale…exhale…

Adrien felt his own eyes flutter closed as he leaned closer to Marinette, simultaneously pulling her gently up toward him.

The first touch was like electricity. The shock was so strong, Adrien physically recoiled before diving back in immediately. It was soft…Marinette seemed to be holding back a little. Something pulled tight in Adrien at every light touch of her lips on his, like a raking through his insides that caused his breath to hitch and goosebumps to erupt on every inch of his skin. The sensation made him want her even more. He moved to deepen the kiss, scooting closer to Marinette, but she immediately pulled back.

"Adrien," she whispered to him, breath slightly ragged. "I, uh," – she cleared her throat – "I want this really, _really, REALLY_ bad…"

"But?" Adrien pushed, slightly afraid of the answer, wondering what he had done wrong. To his surprise, when he opened his eyes and looked at her, she was smiling sheepishly, a deep blush dusting her cheeks prettily.

"But your face paint _rocks_ , and my make-up looks _awesome_ , and I really, _really_ don't want to smear it."

Adrien burst out in laughter.

" _Smear_ it? What did you think we would be _doing_?"

"Oh my gosh, shut up," She tried pushing against him, but he pulled her back. She looked up at him through her eyelashes, batting them playfully. "You're incorrigible."

"You love it."

He _was_ incorrigible. He knew it, she knew it, so there was no point in pretending to be something he definitely wasn't. So when he heard Alya and Nino coming back up the stairs, he grabbed a squealing Marinette and planted a big, sloppy kiss on her unpainted cheek.

When Alya popped her head through the trapdoor, a cat-shaped pastry in her hand, she shook her head, completely bemused.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng, you filthy hypocrite."

qpqpqpqpqp

It was a group decision to keep the kiss mark on Marinette's cheek. Marinette could pretend to be annoyed with the incongruous mark as much as she wanted, but the triumphant look on her kitty's face, as if he had completely marked his territory, made her pride swell more than she would ever say.

Because Marinette didn't have to say it.

The smeared paint all over Adrien's face much later that night, the black and white unable to conceal the boyish grin spreading across his features, let her know that she had conveyed her message quite thoroughly without ever having to say a word.

She was his, and he was most definitely _hers_.

 _Fin!_

* * *

(( This was going to be a three-parter, with a haunted house and an Akumatized villain with the Akuma in his Halloween mask so they had to essential pull off his face (sounds more gruesome than it would have been…I hope it would have only been a little scary), but, alas, here it is, November 1st, and I have for you a plotless Fluff-pot of Fluffiness. Which now it might make more sense why the ending is a little…abrupt. It's also quite un-edited. Just fluffed. Like an overstuffed throw pillow. *giggles*

Hope you all have a charming Dias de los Muertos, remembering those we love. *hearts*

Thanks for reading! Please, if you liked it at all, or even if you didn't, drop me a little line. I really would love to hear from you! n.n ))


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